Kirthaven Gym: Orientation (hypno)
by irrcapt
For Vincent, it was a big day. Training day in and day out, he had finally put on enough muscle to make the lowest weight class the school's wrestling team competed in. He needed to be a part of the team to round out his future executive resume. Even since his high school Future Businessman club had caught his interest, he had striven to become the Renaissance ideal. But he'd always been a hard gainer, putting on muscle very slowly. But now he had hit his goal. He strode confidently through the athletic offices at his college until he reached the coach's office and knocked... and received no answer. “Coach Mahler, you here?” he called.
From the other side of the door, Vincent could hear snatches of a muffled conversation, and then the door clicked and a man opened it. “C'mon in.”
Not recognizing the man, he nodded deferentially to him “Hello, sir.” Then he spotted the coach sitting behind his desk with an abstracted look on his face. “I finally made my weight, sir.” Mahler didn't respond. “Coach Mahler? Are you okay?”
The man spoke up. “He's fine, aren't you, Mahler?”
“Yes. Completely fine.” Mahler said, still with that odd look on his face.
“Why don't you introduce us, Mahler?”
“Mr. Kirthaven, this is Vincent, one of the top students here. He has wanted to get into a sport for some time. Vincent, this is Mr. Kirthaven, the owner of the gym I go to and my personal trainer.”
“Please to meet you, Mr. Kirthaven.”
“Call me Lars, please. Do you go by Vince?”
“No, I go by Vincent, thank you. Sorry to be brusque, Mr. Kirthaven, but do you have a slot still open for me, Coach Mahler?”
Once again, Mahler didn't answer him. Vincent raised an eyebrow. Mr. Kirthaven spoke up again. “Oh, I'm sure there's a slot for you. In fact, your coach and I were just hammering out the details for your team to use my training methods and facilities. Just my way of supporting the community. There's even an orientation video. Why don't you watch it? Shouldn't he, since he's on the team, Mahler?”
“Yes. You're on the team, Vincent. You will watch the video. Everyone on the team must watch the video.”
Vincent thought this was kinda odd, but his elation at getting on the team make him reluctant to speak up about it. Oh well, he thought. I'm sure it will be just some boring ad for this guys gym, but it'll be over quickly. “Yes, sir.” he replied and sat in one of the chairs. He turned it a quarter turn so he could look straight at the computer screen that Mr. Kirthaven was turning for him. “Let's start...now.” Mr. Kirthaven said and hit a button on the keyboard.
The standard synthesized opener started, and inwardly, Vincent groaned. The video started playing out just as he had thought it would, with boring shots of people training and a voice over that explained the features of the gym, and just seemed to go on and on. It was so boring he was starting to feel... tired. He leaned his head against his hand, and blinked many times, trying to keep his eyes open. He was trying so hard to not insult the guy, but this video was putting him to sleep. His brain felt totally numb.
Vincent had tuned out the announcer quite early, which had been easy since the sound levels were so bad. The volume of the background music had slowly risen and mostly drowned him out. Suddenly, Vincent could hear him again. “Yes, that's it, just watch and relax, it so good to do so.” the voice said.
Huh? Vincent blearily thought. That didn't sound like it came from... oh, no, Mr. Kirthaven said that. He must have made the audio for the film too... Wait what did he say?
Mr. Kirthaven noted the slightly thoughtful expression on Vincent's face and continued. “No need to think about it, Vincent. What I'm saying is not important at all. You need to watch the video. Your coach wants you to, and you want to be on the team so bad you need to follow instructions.”
“But... what... don't... understand...” Vincent slurred out, trying to form a thought through the numbing haze the video made him feel.
“You don't need to understand, you just need to watch the video for your coach and follow instructions.”
“Follow... instructions...” Vincent repeated. He was still trying to think about the situation, trying to figure out what was going on, but another part of him seemed to just be following along.
“That's it, my boy, just watch and relax. You're just feeling so tired The video just seems to be going on forever, doesn't it? And it's so boring. It makes you want to just sleep. To just melt into your chair.” Vincent started sliding down in his seat. “That's right. So bored because there's nothing to focus on. It just plods on and on and on and on, and making you more and more empty headed and sleepy. If only there was something, anything to focus on you could do it and stay awake to watch. But there isn't. Just and endless, mind numbing stream. So tired. So relaxed.”
Barely keeping his eyes open, Vincent's mental struggles finally let him understand what was happening. He forced the words out in an attempt to assert his will “Tryin'... ta... hyp... na... tize-” Suddenly, the video blossomed into a green and black spiral, spinning rapidly. The other part of him, the part following along, seized on the pattern and threw all Vincent's focus into it.
The few shreds of will Vincent had kept tried to turn his attention away, but Mr. Kirthaven spoke again. “There you are something you can focus totally on. That way you can stay awake. That way you can do what was asked of you. That way you can follow your instructions. You want to do that. You need to do that. You need to just focus on the spiral and obey.”
“Focus on the spiral and obey.” Vincent said, his mind empty. He didn't notice Coach Mahler also repeating the phrase, since he was already under the spirals sway.
Lars Kirthaven rubbed his hands together. It was working perfectly. Soon all the people in this wrestling program would be his to control. He walked over to Vincent. “Let's get a look at those muscles, see your potential. You're like a doll, Vincent. You only move when I move you and stay in that position.”
Vincent didn't even look up was he said. “I obey.”
Lars worked Vincent's shirt off and looked him over. “Pretty good, but we'll have to work you harder, get you up to the higher classes. Also need to do something about that prissy attitude, that won't fit your new body at all. Well, no better time to get started than the present!”
